Diwata-2 to focus on Phl satellite communications capability

MANILA, Philippines -  The Philippines will seek to develop satellite communications technology capability when it launches into space its second Filipino – designed and constructed microsatellite, Diwata-2, by the middle of 2018.

Carlos Primo David, executive director of the Department of Science and Technology-Philippine Council for Industry, Energy and Emerging Technology Research and Development (DOST-PCIEERD), said that the Filipino team of engineers in Tohoku University and Hokkaido University has added a telecommunications component to Diwata-2, aside from a set of cameras built in for imaging.

“We’re putting in a telecom component. So (we) can communicate via satellite,” David told reporters in an interview at the PCIEERD 7th anniversary celebration last week at the PICC in Pasay City.

“This will be the start of our (satellite) communications technology,” David added.

David said that if successful, the DOST’s microsatellite program can really benefit the country.

“As (National Security Council) Secretary (Hermogenes) Esperon said earlier, imaging (capability) is OK. But what we really need is the communications ability of satellites,” David said.

Among the activities at the PCIEERD anniversary was the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MOA) between the DOST unit and the NSC, wherein the NSC tapped the agency’s research and development expertise and funds.

“With the MOA… they can determine what R&D projects they want done to help them in their job and we’ll look for proponents who can undertake the R&D,” he said.

David said that the agency has some P30 million for human security R&D.

“Just imagine, this is the Philippines. When the satellite passes through us, as long as it’s above us, we can communicate anywhere via satellite,” David said.

David pointed out that Diwata-1, successfully launched into space in mid-2016, is sending only images it takes of the Philippines.

“With Diwata-2, we can send messages to the satellite, and the satellite will send these back to whomever we want,” David said.

“And it’s not Japanese technology. The telecom part is developed purely by the Filipino engineers,” he said.

“For satellites, there are mainly two classes: one is imaging, one is for communications,” David said.

“Rarely are they combined together in one satellite. So I see the benefits of taking pictures but more so for the communications part. Imagine, during a disaster when all the networks are down, or even in an isolated barangay, now there’s a chance for you to communicate from there to wherever,” David said.

Diwata-2, like Diwata-1, will pass by the Philippines six times a day.

The attempt to allow satellite communications technology will be backed up by another program being pursued to develop Filipino capability to build miniature satellites or cubesats, which despite their small size can provide satellite communications.

David said the department has sent two Filipino engineers as scholars to the Kyushu Institute of Technology to learn how to build cubesats.

He revealed that there are actually two cubesat programs being pursued, the other being a project with the United Kingdom.

He said the agency hopes to get 10 post-graduate engineering students from private universities to join a program to study cubesat design and construction in UK universities.

PCIEERD has a budget outlay of P20 million for the  program.

“Most of the expenses will be shouldered by the UK,” David told The STAR.

David said the cubesat was seen to be more useful because it was for satellite communications.

A cubesat is said to be a miniature satellite the size of a volleyball orbiting in space.

“It is not for imaging, it is just for communications,” David said. “At any time, you can communicate via satellite.”